The present invention relates to a mechanical accumulating conveyor intermittently operable to advance articles through a series of stations to ensure that any empty station will be occupied by an article. A number of mechanical accumulating conveyors have been developed that require no electrical or fluid operated components to advance articles intermittently through longitudinally spaced-apart stations. As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,547,254, a mechanical accumulating conveyor employs a transfer slide having a plurality of independently movable feed members that are moved between idle and feed positions, mechanical sensors at each station, and rigid segment bars operable to move all feed members behind an empty station to their feed positions during the initial movement of the transfer bar. In particular, U.S. Pat. No. 3,547,254 discloses a mechanical accumulating conveyor wherein the feed members behind an empty station are moved to their feed positions upon an initial forward movement of the transfer bar. These prior art mechanical accumulating conveyors have performed satisfactorily. However, they tend to be costly, they require considerable maintenance, and they are complex and difficult to build and assemble.
It is the general object of the present invention, therefore, to provide an improved mechanical accumulating conveyor adapted to move independently movable feed units to feed positions upon an initial rearward movement of a transfer slide from a start position.
Another object of this invention is to provide a mechanical accumulating conveyor in which the work advancing mechanisms corresponding to the work stations are independent of each other and the work sensor assemblies at the stations are connected by flexible connectors.
It is another object of this invention to provide a mechanical accumulating conveyor in which the moving components are located below and between the sides of the conveyor so as to provide a safe conveyor.